LOOKING FOR AN OPENING against the Hazleton defense was Comet Pat Rother.

Hazleton Area came to town last Friday evening and left with a win over Crestwood in the last regular season game of 2017. Mistakes hurt the Comets early and often which led to a 35-0 shutout loss for Crestwood.

Crestwood (5-5) did manage to secure a spot in the District 2 Class 4A quarterfinals at Valley View (7-3).

Against Hazleton, Crestwood gave up two scores in the opening half. Hazleton scored their first TD in the first quarter on a 48-yard run by Damon Horton. In the second quarter, Jacob Hunzinger scored on a 14-yard pass from Sparky Wolk.

Crestwood had two scoring attempts fail but the ball was fumbled out of the end zone at the 3-yard line. Quarterback Garrett Swank was intercepted in the end zone when a pass skipped off his receiver into the hands of Hazleton’s Bryce Reed.

Hazleton ran away with the game in the third quarter, lighting up the scoreboard three times on runs of 60-yards 51-yards and 12-yards .

Crestwood had a total of 176 yards compared to Hazleton with 404. Patrick Rother was the leading rusher for the Comets with 58 yards on 15 carries Rother caught two pass for 17 yards while Brandon Niemenski hauled in two for 25 yards.